The Lies We Tell Ourselves
by XxThe Penny TreasurexX
Summary: I don't really have a good summary for this short story but it's basically about Pepper confronting Gene after the "Tales Of Suspense" episode. She finds him and secrets are revealed. Little GenexPepper, little Pepperony...rated T to be safe
1. Lies

(Disclaimer:I own nothing) _I think this is one of the best IM:AA stories I've written so far:) _

_Also, this story is dedicated to anonymous reviewer "hey" who wanted me to write more for this category, and I've been walking around with this idea in my head for a while now like a zombie so thus this was born:) And to "Hey": If you want to watch the Iron Man movie for free on-line here's the web address: **watch-movies-online .tv** Trust me, once you watch it...you become **OBSESSED **with it**:)** No polls or questions needed to watch it either:) Okay enough blabbering, onto the story..._

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Pepper walked into the lab and was not surprised to see Tony and Rhodey working, well Tony was working Rhodey was just doing his homework. It's been a month now since the incident with Gene and Pepper was still depressed out that, and along with all of her other stuff going on in her life she felt terrible. She walked up to them and faked a smile.

"Hey Pepper, I didn't even see you come in" Tony said as he put down his screw driver. He got the lab fixed up and he was always in it now.

"Hi...you wanted me to come over?" She asked. He indeed called her from her house. He sounded a little desperate on the phone so she hurried over.

"Yeah, um I was wondering if you guys would do me a favor. Tonight is a big Gala for Stark International and I was hoping you both can come with me." He said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I thought you hated going to those things." Rhodey said.

"Yeah I do but Stark International thinks it would be really good if I were to go. They said something about me keeping up appearances. Plus, now that I know my dad...is alive, I just want to make him proud. He used to love going to these things." Tony said.

"Oh, alright man. We don't have to stay long though, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, just long enough to make an appearance." Tony said. He looked over at Pepper and she nodded her head yes.

"Thank you Pepper." Tony said with a smile.

"Well, hopefully it won't be too bad. I'll just have to dig around in my closet for a dress...shouldn't be to hard." She said sarcastically as she turned and left.

**_--15 minutes later--_**

Tony and Rhodey were outside of Pepper's house, facing the Limo Tony rented, waiting for her. Tony heard a click of a door opening and he saw Pepper step out, walking towards them, with a backless blue gown, she also had soft curles in her hair. **(Anyone who has seen the Iron Man movie _knows _what dress I'm talking about:) **Tony's mouth dropped when he saw her and tried to close it as she approached them.

"...Wow, you look...amazing. Was this really something you dug out of your closet?" He teased.

"Thank you, and it was just something I found lying around." She teased back with a smile.

"Come on guys we're going to be late." Rhodey said as he got in the Limo. Tony and Pepper followed him. Twenty minutes later they arrived at the Gala, which also happened to be a big beautiful building Stark International owned. They walked inside and they heard a shrill girly voice.

"Tony! You made it!" Whitney Stane said as she hugged him. Pepper gave an annoyed look at her. She dragged Tony off by his arm and Rhodey also left when he went to dance with a girl around his age. Pepper was left feeling very lonely all of a sudden. After a few minutes of just standing around watching people have a good time, she stepped outside to the garden. The garden was decorated beautifully with lights and Pepper was the only one there at the moment.

She stepped up to the alter they had there that was center of the garden next to the pond. She suddenly wished she could see Gene right now. She could still hear his soft voice in her head. She had so many questions to ask him that mostly started with the word "Why". She closed her eyes and images of Gene flashed through her minds eye. The good memories she smiled at while the bad ones had tears fall from her eyes. A young boy's voice broke her thoughts from behind her. She turned around and felt a little sad when she saw it was only Rhodey.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked.

"I dunno. Look tell Tony I'm leaving. I'll walk from here to my house. See ya." She said sadly as she left out the back entrance. Rhodey went back inside to find Tony. He saw him with Whitney in the crowd of people. He waited for Whitney to leave before he approached him.

"Hey Tony, Pepper just left. She wanted me to tell you." Rhodey said.

"What? Why?" Tony asked confused.

"I guess she felt left out and decided to go. We shouldn't have left her." Rhodey said sadly. Tony nodded his head.

"...Yeah, I know. Whitney just wanted to be alone." Tony said.

"Well I'm gonna leave too. You coming?" Rhodey asked.

"Yeah. I'll go say goodbye to Whitney first." Tony said as he went to go find her. A few minutes later he came back to Rhodey and they started walking home. Tony and Rhodey forgot to call Pepper to see if she got home okay as they crashed on they're beds'.

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The next morning was a Saturday and Pepper got up early after a late night anyway. She got dressed and left a note for her dad telling him she'll be gone most of the day but gave no indication where she was going. During the night and the walk home from the party gave her time to think. She mostly thought about Gene and the many questions that were still lingering in her head. She decided she needed to see him, even though he tried to kill her and her friends.

She first wanted to see if he, or anybody that might know where she can find him, was in his house. Pepper knew it was a long-shot to think he still might live here but she had no other leads (and was surprised at Tony when he never even thought about checking here). As she approached his door she became nervous but pushed it aside as she knocked on the door. An older man came to the door. _He must be the butler_ she thought.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"..Umm, Is Gene home?" She asked. Pepper expected him to look at her like she was crazy or simply say that he does not live here anymore. So she was surprised at what he told her.

"Yes ma'am but he'll be leaving soon." He said. He made a gesture for her to come in. She did so and the butler walked her down to where Gene stayed. The place looked much bigger than the outside to Pepper. He stopped in front of a fancy double door with a dragon symbol on it and told her this is Gene's study. The butler left and Pepper took a deep breath as she knocked.

_Here we go..._

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**Wow! There's the first chapter for y'all! I already have the second and third chapter written up and they're laying in the Doc. Manager waiting to be uploaded. But I won't do it unless you People Please Review!!:)**


	2. Truth

(Disclaimer: I don't own anything, IM:AA belongs to Marvel) Sorry for the short chapter.

**A/N: If you guys that live in the USA and have been following the news and weather know about the BIG blizzard that is suppose to hit in the North East Region, and since I live in Delaware I'll be effected. I was going to wait to put this chapter up but I have a feeling that the electric will go out, and that means no computer and no updates:( If I don't update in a couple of days you know the power is out and I'm frezzing my butt off, so you might have to wait for the next chapter, depends on the electric. I just hope if it goes out that it won't be out for long....**

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**Gene's POV:**

I can't wait to get out of this rat hole. Sure it's nice and big but I belong in China, _not _in China _Town_. My mother always wanted me to rule there just as a true Khan should. At least today I can finally leave and start my search for the remaining rings. I don't have anything or anyone to miss so who really cares if I leave? Zhang most certainly won't and it's not like I have friends that would care either, they all hate me now, and who could blame them. Which is why I'm surprised when I hear a knock on my door now. It can't be Jarvis **(hehe) **he never really bothers me especially now. I open the door and I'm shell shocked to see my 'used-to-be' friend with her red hair and those freckles I still find adorable. _Pepper..._

"Umm...hi. I was around town and I wanted to see you." She said. I'm still staring at her like an idiot, but I have a right. What the heck was she doing here!? I invited her in my overly-sized room. After a minute of silence, I speak.

"...What are you doing here?" I ask her.

"I wanted to see you. To be honest I didn't expect to find you here, but I wanted to try." She said as she looked at me with sad eyes.

"I'm leaving today" I mutter and that must have got her attention because her head shot up.

"Oh..." She breathed as she started biting her lip nervously.

**Pepper's POV:**

"Was there something you wanted to say?" He asked. God yes! I have so many questions for him I don't even know where to start!

"Yes...Gene I-I don't even know where to start. First off, Why?! Why did you do it!? All of it!?" I say frantically. He let out a deep breath and took a seat on one of his chairs, as if he's about to tell me something important. I took a seat next to him too.

"...When I was young, my mother told me that these rings were my destiny. She said that when I was older I'll be able to do anything my heart desired with them." He said.

"I still don't understand." I said simply.

"I don't except you to. But hear me out anyway. After my mother married Zhang life after that became a nightmare for me. Zhang got the ring and became the Mandarin. He didn't really care what happened to me. But I knew the rings were my destiny and how important they were to find and have them all. So I told Zhang that Howard Stark would be able to locate the rings since I knew he knew a lot about them. Zhang agreed, so it technically was really _him _that blew up they're plane, but I guess it doesn't matter now. He held him captive and forced him for answers, although he didn't know as much about them as I thought he did.

So that made Zhang angry and he kept Howard captive. Later on I managed to over-power him and I got my mother's ring back and became the Mandarin. I never intended to hurt you or Tony and Rhodey but in that temple of Sacrifice, when I found the ring in Fing Fang Foom...and also knowing Tony was Iron Man, I went over board with the power. I just knew that Tony would try to take the ring as Iron Man...so...anyway I guess I just never thought my plan through well enough as I attack him and Rhodey..." Gene explained as I tried to absorb all of what he said into me.

"What about your mother? Is she really dead like you told us or was that just some sob story you knew we would fall for." I didn't mean to sound so cruel but I just couldn't stop myself as the words poured out of me.

"I don't know if she's dead. My theory is that Zhang killed her to get the ring but I still don't know. That's one of the reasons I'm moving back to Hong Kong, I need to find out the truth." He said. I looked down in my lap before speaking.

"Are you ever going to try and sort things out with Tony?" I ask him.

"I don't know. I have a good feeling he doesn't want to speak to me right now." He said with a chuckle.

"Well, yeah I guess. What ever happened to Howard? Did Zhang take him after he came back from Peru?" I asked. He gave me a small smile before he stood up.

"Come here." He said as he held out his hand to help me up. I take it cautiously and walk with him further down the place until we reach a room that looks like cells but they look to nice to be prison cells. He unlocks a dark room and he turned on the lights and we both walk inside. As I step closer in I see a human figure sitting on a bed across the room. I recognized this man because I've seen him a lot in the papers. It was Howard Stark.

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**I know I know it's really short, sorry about that but if you all will nicely review I'll put up the last chapter as soon as I can!:) Now go review, don't be shy all reviews are welcome:)**


	3. Reveal

(Disclaimer: Nope, I own Nothing)

Sorry for the wait. But I survived the blizzard, even though another one is happening right now. And I know I've said on my profile that I'm in love with snow but when you spend two hours shoveling your drive way because your parents make you sucks the fun out of it:( I'm just kidding, my parents don't make me; I volunteer just to be out in it:) Anyways here's the last chapter...

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**Pepper's POV:**

"Oh my God! Howard!" I said out loud.

"Hello?" He asked. I looked over at Gene with happy eyes this time. The thought of Tony's father alive and well, well okay maybe not _well _but alive made me so happy.

"He's been here the whole time. I was going to release him along time ago but Zhang would never hear of it so when I over-took Zhang, I moved Howard into a nicer cell but when Tony started helping me with the rings...I didn't want anything that could jeopardized that. I know it was selfish..." Gene muttered. And at that moment I didn't care, to me, all that mattered was getting Tony's father back to him.

"Who are you?" Howard asked as he got up. His hair was a little longer then I remembered from the newsreels but he looked to be in great shape still.

"My name is Pepper Potts. I'm a friend of your son." I said softly. I saw his eyes beam with light of the sound of his son being alive.

"...Nice to meet you." He said as I shook his hand.

"She'll be taking you back with her." Gene said with a small smile. We all went to the main door of the house. Howard was waiting down on the step. I didn't want to keep him from his son any longer so I tried keeping my goodbye to Gene brief.

"I'll miss you so much." I said to him face-to-face. I knew that touched him because his eyes beamed and I could have sworn I saw tears in them but..nah that has to be my imagination.

"I'll miss you too. I'll try to come visit." He said as he wrapped his arms around me in a hug, something I have _never _seen him do before, much less to me. I blush a little and quickly let go.

"I hope you find what your looking for over there." I said with a smile. He smiled back and we said one last goodbye before Howard and I left.

**_--Back At The Lab--_**

**Normal POV:**

Pepper walked inside the hanger.

"I remember this place. What are we doing here? Isn't Tony across the street living with Roberta?" Howard asked.

"He does...but he's mostly here all the time." Pepper said. They made it to the door that leads to the armory and Pepper stopped in front of it.

"Wait here. Let me just...try to prepare Tony a little." Pepper said. Howard gave a nod and Pepper went inside.

"H-Hey Tony." Pepper said nervously.

"Pepper! Man where have you been all day!? Your dad's been worried sick and so have Rhodey and me!" He yelled. Pepper winced a little when she heard the panic in his voice along with her dad worried about her. After all, all she did was leave a note...

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys where I was going but I thought you and Rhodey would have thought I was nuts." Pepper said.

"Pepper, we _always _think your nuts." He said playfully as his panic faded away. She chuckled a little.

"But seriously, where were you? I won't think you're nuts." He said.

"...Stay tuned. Look I went over to Gene's place today to see him." Pepper said. Tony stood dumbstruck at what she just said.

"What? W-Was he there?" Tony asked nervously as his heart started to pound.

"...Yes." Pepper started, quietly. "We...we both talked about what happened. I don't think I'll ever be able to tell you what we talked about. It's all just to much, but...I did bring back someone." Pepper said as she walked back over to the armory door. Part of Tony was confused and the other part thought it was actually Gene she brought back. He was shocked to see Pepper pull out Howard Stark into the lab.

"...Hi Tony." Howard said softly. Tony's eyes started to water and it taken him a minute to run over to his dad and hugged him so tightly Pepper was sure he broke a rib.

"_Dad!_" Tony whaled through the fabric of his father's shirt. They stood like that for what seemed like hours until Tony let go.

"I-I can't believe your here!" Tony said.

"I know. We have a lot to talk about....starting with that invention you never got to show me..."

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An hour later of Tony showing off his Iron Man armor the four of them, Tony, Rhodey, Pepper and Howard were talking in the lab chairs in the hanger.

"I still can't get over the fact that your here Howard." Rhodey said.

"Well it's good to be back, and it's nice to see you again Rhodey." Howard said. It was really dark out know and almost 9:30pm. Pepper quietly got up and seemed not to be noticed by anyone as she went for the exit. Suddenly an arm snaked across her waist and she yelped in surprise. Pepper turned around and saw Tony with a smile on his face. He leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"I never really said thank you..so..thank you." Tony said. Pepper blushed furiously but smiled.

"You're welcome." She said as she hugged him. They let go and Pepper exited the lab, awaiting the wrath of her father when she got home. But all-in-all it was worth it.

_Fin_

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**_Hope you guys liked this little three shot:) Please review!_**


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